Difference makes no difference
by agnieszkawanda
Summary: Harry and the gang are back at Hogwarts, but this time on the other side of the desks and getting ready to receive a group of transfer students.


Harry Potter took a deep breath and sighed.

'So, all the foreign transfers will be here within the next week?,' he asked.

Minerva looked over the parchment once more.

'Yes. I do hope the numbers are correct. Otherwise, we'll have to change the Great Hall into a makeshift dormitory.'

Harry smiled.

'Been there, done that, haven't we, Kitty? Anyway, don't forget our secret weapon. We still have the Room of Requirement, and it can provide any space necessary.'

'Indeed. If it does come to that, I expect you will take charge, as the Room of Requirement expert?' Minerva smiled faintly, took off her glasses and rubbed her eyes. 'I must say I never thought I would say this, Harry, considering the history of havoc you often happened to be the source of, but I am very happy to have you here.'

Harry looked around the headmistress's office. It still seemed strange to think of it as 'her' office - for Harry, it would always remain Dumbledore's, though the former headmaster's presence was these days limited to the (now empty) portrait. Harry remembered himself standing over the Pensieve that still occupied the same spot. It seemed to him that centuries had passed since he had viewed the headmaster's memory of the trial of Barty Crouch Junior.

'Yes, who would have thought...' he said, as if to himself.

'Harry Potter, the boy who lived. Harry Potter, Director of Studies.' Minerva's tone of voice was a mixture of supressed pride and innocent mockery. 'And as the Director of Studies, you shall now experience the privilege of integrating our new Eastern European acquisitions into the student body.' 

Harry came back to the staffroom to see Hermione – what a surprise – buried under a pile of books and Ron chatting to Luna, who was sitting on the window sill stroking her miniature dragon. Ron waved at him to come over.

'Anything new about the transfers?'

'Well, most of ours are going to be students from Poland. About fifteen of them, and five more from Ukraine and Belarus. That is, assuming everything runs according to plan. It's an emergency situation out there, so things can change overnight.'

'I still don't get it. How's it possible that the situation is so bad they have to flee the country?'

'But it's quite clear, isn't it?' cut in Hermione, a little impatiently. She had obviously been dividing her attention between studying her books and listening to them talking. 'The Muggle community being very traditional and set on eliminating any perceived aberrations, it has succeeded at exposing the wizarding world, which is now facing the necessity to set some things straight with them. And they are intending to do just that, only their Ministry of Magic seems to want to make sure the young generation, and notably their education, suffers as little as possible in the process. We may find their decision correct or not, considering it has been proven that underage wizards do come in handy in times of crisis, but it is our obligation to support them in any way they seem fit.' Hermione gave Ron a do-you-get-it-now kind of look.

He grinned at her. 'I love it when you talk dirty, Mione.'

'Honestly, Ron...' Hermione pouted and turned back to her books.

'And I just think,' said Luna absent-mindedly, 'I think it is going to be very interesting.'

Harry realised he couldn't possibly feel more at home. 

It took Harry two days to prepare the induction programme for the newcomers. Hogwarts was stirring with apprehension and excitement resembling the one which he remembered preceded the Triwizard Tournament during his fourth year at Hogwarts. With this in mind, he took it upon himself to make sure the course of events was more fortunate this time.

After talking everything over with Minerva once again, he asked her to let him stay a moment longer in her office after she rushed off to her Transfiguration class (a tireless woman). He couldn't stop himself from asking Dumbledore's approval. Albus nodded at him from his portrait.

'I have to admit, I never thought I would be that much of a fly on the wall,' he said jokingly.

'Thank you, Professor. I don't want Kitty to feel I don't trust her as a headmistress. I do. I am just so used to coming to you with everything...'

'That is quite fine, Harry. Let it be our little secret. Now, if you excuse me, I'll start my evening round of the school...'

Harry collected his parchments from the desk and smiled. 'Your rounds, Professor? Well, before you leave, make sure you tell Nicolas to get out of the closet. His robe's caught in the door.' Harry pointed at Dumbledore's portrait and started walking out of the room, trying not to chuckle.

'Nico...? I don't know what you mean, boy...' said Albus a bit too defensively.

'Times have changed, Professor,' replied Harry over his shoulder. 'And portraits have always talked.' 

On the way to the staffroom, Harry went over the list of things that still needed checking up on. He had to make sure the Potions classroom was ready to receive a few more students per class. He walked into the staffroom and looked around.

'Has anyone seen Draco?'

'Not since the afternoon, no,' said Hermione, turning her head towards him. She and Ron were sitting in front of the fireplace, looking very romantic. Luna was sprawling on the floor and from behind the couch he could see Ginny's ginger crew-cut head. She and Luna were watching their pet dragon breathe small strands of fire.

'Oh, isn't it a DeeDee day?' asked Ginny.

'What do you mean, a DeeDee day?' Luna sat up straight.

'I mean, I saw her just an hour ago.'

'A DeeDee evening perhaps. You can dress in drag whenever you want to, you don't have to start in the morning, it's not like there is a timetable to it...' said Luna in an educational tone.

'Of course,' Ginny smiled, leaned towards her and gave her a quick kiss. 'You're absolutely right, my dear propagator of the theory of performativity.'

'So, you mean, DeeDee is out partying?' asked Harry.

'Most probably, she said something about some new Muggle club in London that she wanted to check out,' Ron answered.

'Come sit with us, Harry,' said Hermione. 'You should stop to sit down from time to time, you know?'

'Look who's talking!' Harry laughed, sitting next to her. 'How is your Squib-Muggle rights research going, bookworm?'

'Oh, that reminds me!' Hermione clapped her hands. 'We definitely need to do something about the name of my subject, Harry. It can't be „Squib and Muggle Rights" or anything like that.'

'That conjures an image of a minority which it is politically correct to study,' interrupted Luna.

'Exactly!' Hermione went red with excitement. That meant that the thin line between work and play, both shared by a group of people who saved the world together once upon time, would be blurred again tonight in the Hogwarts staffroom. 

Harry came to visit Draco at his quarters the next morning. He knocked and waited for quite a while, then heard slow footsteps approaching the door. It opened. Draco was still half-asleep and he had obviously been sleeping in the evening dress from the night before - it was completely crumpled. The part of make-up which hadn't been left on the pillow was all over his cheeks. He left the door open and started back towards the bed.

'Late night?' smiled Harry, closing the door behind him.

'These Muggle clubs will be the death of me. They're too good.'

'Did you have a performance?'

'No, not yesterday, no.' Draco grabbed the edge of the sheet and wiped his face. 'I was at this new place... I met this awesome guy...'

Harry only looked at him, smiling.

'You really should try it yourself, Har. Who knows, maybe something would click...'

'We've been through this, Draco. I'm just not interested in these kinds of things.'

'Yes, yes, I know... no boys, no girls, no nothing... Still incomprehensible to me, but be what you want to be.'

'I don't want to be, Dee. I just am. You're the way you are, and you're fine, and I'm the way I am, and I'm fine, too. Who knows. Maybe it'll change. And then, it'll be OK as well.'

Draco looked at Harry calmly and smiled.

'Have you been talking to Luna again?'

Harry laughed. 'What do you mean, again? And whose friend with benefits is she – mine or yours? Get your stuff together and meet me at breakfast. There are some things about the foreign students I need to talk to you about.' 

Harry went to the Great Hall and sat down at the staff table next to Ron. He was making sandwiches for Hermione, who was so absorbed in her book that she seemed completely unaware of anything that was happening around her.

'You know, after all these years, that you can do that with your wand, right?' said Harry, himself practising what he preached.

'I dunno, it seems, somehow... more important when you do it this way, doesn't it?' replied Ron. 'Mione, here you are.' He put the sandwich into Hermione's hand and she smiled, pecked him on the cheek and went back to reading, taking a bite. 'Oh, and I've got news,' Ron turned to Harry. 'There's a letter addressed to us all from George and Angelina. They've come back from their holiday in Bulgaria.'

'Yeah, did they meet Viktor Krum?'

'Yes, well, it seems we've been right all along, thinking that was the main purpose of the visit.' Ron smiled.' They wrote they'd brought Viktor with them and he's going to „be staying with them" for a while.'

'Be staying with them? Well, it's high time, isn't it? They had this long-distance relationship for almost a year?'

'Right. And it seems that they are bracing themselves for a talk with mum and dad.'

'Oh!' Harry laughed. 'You must tell them to let us know when they'll be going, we'll send Luna their way and she'll do the polyamory tutorial part.'

Luna, Ginny and Draco appeared, all in apparently very good moods, the girls holding hands and Draco in fresh eyeliner, with an arm around Luna's shoulders. 

Harry was very content with how the foreign students were received at Hogwarts and quite proud of his own organisational skills. After just one day, it seemed that everyone knew where they were supposed to stay and which classes to go to and every group of newcomers had a group of student guides who were responsible for making sure they didn't get lost in the maze of the Hogwarts stairs and corridors.

Harry was circling the corridors and talking to some of the now-not-so-foreign-anymore students. He wanted to make them feel at home and be there if they needed any assistance. He had just finished talking to one of the Polish students when he saw Kitty and Ron coming his way. Minerva had the familiar stern look on her face.

'What's wrong?' Harry asked.

'It seems that Mr Weasley thinks very highly of his students' flying skills.' Minerva looked at Ron disapprovingly, and he smiled. 'Notice the use of „highly", as in, „high and highly dangerous".' Her eyes went back to Harry. 'One of them ended up on one of the castle spires. I urge you to discipline your staff, Mr Potter, regardless of their status as best friends, or saviours of the world, for that matter.' Minerva strode off down the corridor.

'Just as I thought we wouldn't regress from the first-names stage...' said Harry and Ron laughed out loud.

'Wanna discipline me?' he asked.

'Oh, you and your dirty mind!'

'It's Kitty who started it!'

They laughed and started walking together towards the staffroom.

'Did I see you talking to one of the new students just now? How are they doing?' Ron asked.

'Okay, I think, considering the circumstances. This one is from Poland. You haven't had classes with hir yet?'

'No, I've only seen them all together in the Great Hall and now some new faces flash in the corridors here and there. Ze has to be in the group I have the day after tomorrow.'

Suddenly Harry felt his robe being pulled and turned his head around to see one of the first-years looking up at him.

'What is it, Rickie?'

'Professor, this new person, this new person you were talking to, was it a boy or a girl?'

Harry smiled, bent down a little and asked, 'And what difference does it make?'


End file.
